We chat to Agaric ahead of his set alongside pal Joel Mull at London’s ‘Leading Astray’ party

Well all in all I would say it was a really nice year, I went to alot of inspirational places and heard alot of good music. Of course there was some lows as well, as in any and people’s lives but better to focus on the positive and stay on the path I think!

Can you tell those of us that don’t know how you came to be a DJ/Producer? Was it intentional or completely unplanned?

Yes I would say that most things regarding my career have been pretty much unplanned. I don’t feel as if I ever really had time to consider doing anything else, I’ve been quite busy with this since I was 18 or something like that. We were a tight group of friends who put all our money into buying music and recording gear and wouldn’t stop making release after release, in various genres of electronic music.

How are things going for you over at your “We Are” label?

It’s fine, though it is getting extremely difficult to sell vinyl these days. It seems to be getting worse and worse for everyone, although there might have been a slight upswing on sales last year. Personally I find alot more excitement in selling a piece of music in a physical format so I’ll definitely keep it going. Alot of friends and Dj’s are back to playing more and more vinyl, it’s a bit of a shame that alot of clubs now seem to be neglecting the technical setup, using scruffy decks, etc. The reality is still of course that the morepart of Dj’s are using computers on stage. Though at the same time it’s an intersting time music wise with a lot of quality stuff being released strictly on vinyl.

You’ve lived in Berlin since 2007, how is the city that never sleeps in 2012 – has it changed much since you first came to live there?

It has changed quite a bit in some ways, and more importantly I have changed just in the recent time. I am enjoying a different place than what I saw just a year ago and it’s a more relaxed one, haha. Regarding the party scene here there are certain things that will never change, and hasn’t done so in decades, but the music changes all the time and people are very, very open to new things here.

How was your “We Are” label night at Panorama?

I haven’t held too many label nights anywhere to be honest, I’ve done one at Panoramabar yes, it was fantastic. This year I plan to not be so lazy and do a few more though, Watergate is up next in March!

You have been hailed as “one of the youngest veteran techno and house producers from Sweden” that’s quite an accolade! How have you managed to achieve so much at such a relatively young age?

That’s very nice of you to say, I’m starting to see myself as quite old though! Joking aside, like I said before I have never really worked with anything else, and in the interest of keeping one self afloat, you really have to make sure to keep busy the whole time music wise. And this has meant making records, playing records, and doing live sets every week, month and year for the past 12,13 years or so.

Did you have many musical influences around you when you were growing up? I hear your dad used to play you videos of Jarre and Kraftwerk.. Very cool!

Yes that was cool! His taste in music has sort of deteriorated from there (sorry, dad) but yeah it’s nice to be able to respect your parents and family for the music and culture that they’re interested in. I think alot of kids despise everything their parents are into by default. When I realised in my teens that I at some point had totally grown into liking more weird, experimental and noisy music than my older brother, who’d originally scared me with his bad-ass metal years earlier I lost some respect though haha.

You’re originally from the South of Sweden, can you tell us a bit more about what the scene is like over there? I know friends who live there complain about the alcohol situation and clubs closing too early! Is this your experience too?

I can relate to your friends. I think it’s the most worn out topic in the world but the Swedish policies around alcohol and opening hours ruin the whole social scene and music culture, whether it’s concerts, clubs or bars. Old farts that have no interest in culture whatsoever sit around debating and stipulating the most stupid of regulations and restrictions making life not very easy for club owners. That being said there are nice things going on in Malmo for sure, as elsewhere in Sweden. People have a tight interest in quality music and there are alot of good shows and events to go to. Clubs do close very early so people tend to “max out” their going-out to a few hectic, stressy hours between 1 and 3. Needless to say there is alot more argumentation and potential agression between people than say here, where people can be more relaxed. This is what I think, anyway I could be wrong.

You are playing at Leading Astray in London on 10th February alongside your good friend and Drumcode/Truesoul label mate Joel Mull – are you looking forward to this?

Very much looking forward!

How long has it been since you played together?

Uhm. The last time I remember we played at the same event was probably Fusion festival, but we run into each other on occasion which is nice!

You play vinyl in your sets, as well as CDs and your releases are all on eye catching coloured vinyl. Would you say you are a bit of a purist when it comes to vinyl??

Haha not really, I just enjoy it. I think it’s all a little odd right. Ask anyone and they would much prefer to release their music on vinyl, mind you not alot of people are actually interested at all in doing a strictly digital release. Yet it’s apparentely so exclusive and out of the ordinary to be playing records these days, that it spawns questions like yours 😉

I thoroughly enjoyed your album back in March last year (“Who Made Up the Rules” was released on Josh Wink’s Ovum label). It was very refreshing to listen to an electronic album that took you on a journey between the tracks, rather than just a linear sound throughout.. The 1st track “Star Core” had elements that reminded me of Tom Middleton’s classic “Sound of the Cosmos” and the final track “Drifter” almost took me back to an old Jeff Mills “Live at Liquid Room, Tokyo” mix I had on a cassette back in 1995! (Jeff’s was much faster though obviously!)

Thank you very much that’s great to hear. Especially the Jeff Mills part but both nice references! I think the only reason that it all kind of fits together is the fact that I managed to do it pretty quickly. If it would take much longer I would lose interest in the ideas I had for the first tracks. That has always been my fear keeping me from trying to make an album actually come to think of it.

Can you tell me how you manage to so seamlessly flit between the various genres of techno?

Not sure how to answer that, I think one thing is for sure though. I’m more and more interested in making the kind of soulful techno that I originally liked in my early 20’s. I think that’s true for more people, that’s the music that you always go back to later on. I’m quite bored with slick tech house at the moment and would like to make a really varied techno album, with all kinds of tempos and moods.

How long did the album take to finish?

Maybe 2 months for the tracks but it’s very hard to answer, I don’t know really. Because even during the time of promotion and stuff, I went back to finalizing certain things, until just before the guy doing the cut had to start.

And how did the relationship with Ovum come about?

I really like Wink’s taste in music, also dj’ing wise – and the label is lead in a really professional way, I wanted to give it a shot and see if they liked it when it was done – they have a great mix in between styles. That’s important for labels now, to be versatile. Not everything can be for everyone of course, but everything can be good still.

Do you feel there will be more releases with them on the horizon?

I certainly hope so, and that is the plan. I’ve been on music making hiatus the last few months, but things are about to change. I’ve been so busy travelling and playing records that I really haven’t giving things much thought about what to do or release in 2012, I am in the process of building a new studio from scratch a bit north from here in the city, which is really motivating and exciting! I never really had a good place to goto every day and be able to work at to be honest, so expect a lot of new music from me this year! No rest 🙂

You can catch Agaric at LEADING ASTRAY on February … Keep them peeled for your chance to win tickets v. soon!